Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of the Persian Empire (part of the early Muslim conquests) in order to preserve their Zoroastrian identity. The Parsi people comprise the older of the Indian subcontinent's two Zoroastrian communities vis-à-vis the Iranis, whose ancestors migrated to British-ruled India from Qajar-era Iran. According to a 16th-century Parsi epic, Qissa-i Sanjan, Zoroastrian Persians continued to migrate to the Indian subcontinent from Greater Iran in between the 8th and 10th centuries, and ultimately settled in present-day Gujarat after being granted refuge by a local Hindu king, Jadi Rana.
Prior to the 7th-century fall of the Sassanid Empire to the Rashidun Caliphate, the Iranian mainland (historically known as 'Persia') had a Zoroastrian majority, and Zoroastrianism had served as the Iranian state religion since at least the time of the Achaemenid Empire. Despite the retreat of many Iranians to the Indian subcontinent, a number of Iranian revolutionary figures such as Piruz Nahavandi, Babak Khorramdin, Mardavij, Sunpadh and al-Isfahani remained in active rebellion against the Rashidun army and the later Islamic caliphates for almost 200 years after the Arab conquest. However, the decline of Zoroastrianism in Iran continued, and most Iranians had adopted Islam by the 10th century.
The word Parsi is derived from the Persian language, and literally translates to Persian ().
The Parsi and Irani communities are the sole ethnoreligious groups practicing Zoroastrianism in India. However, owing to the more recent migration of the Irani community to the Indian subcontinent, it is legally differentiated from the Parsi community. Despite this legal distinction, the terms "Parsi" and "Zoroastrian" are commonly utilized interchangeably to denote both communities. Notably, no substantial differences exist between the religious principles, convictions, and customs of Parsis and Irani Zoroastrians.
Definition and identity
According to the Encyclopædia Britannica,Parsi, also spelled Parsee, member of a group of followers in India of the Persian prophet Zoroaster. The Parsis, whose name means "Persians", are descended from Persian Zoroastrians who emigrated to India to avoid religious persecution by the Muslims. They live chiefly in Mumbai and in a few towns and villages mostly to the south of Mumbai, but also a few minorities nearby in Karachi (Pakistan) and Chennai. There is a sizeable Parsee population in Pune as well in Bangalore. A few Parsee families also reside in Kolkata and Hyderabad. Although they are not, strictly speaking, a caste, since they are not Hindus, they form a well-defined community. The exact date of the Parsi migration is unknown. According to tradition, the Parsis initially settled at Hormuz on the Persian Gulf but finding themselves still persecuted they set sail for India, arriving in the 8th century. The migration may, in fact, have taken place as late as the 10th century, or in both. They settled first at Diu in Kathiawar but soon moved to South Gujarāt, where they remained for about 800 years as a small agricultural community.
The term Pārsi, which in the Persian language is a demonym meaning "inhabitant of Pārs" and hence "ethnic Persian", is not attested in Indian Zoroastrian texts until the 17th century. Until that time, such texts consistently use the Persian-origin terms Zartoshti "Zoroastrian" or Vehdin "[of] the good religion". The 12th-century Sixteen Shlokas, a Sanskrit text in praise of the Parsis, is the earliest attested use of the term as an identifier for Indian Zoroastrians.